Arrested for a protest march

SOME 50 community supporters came out to the Holyoke, Massachusetts, district courthouse on January 23 to show support for Vanessa Lynch-Zorlu, a local activist who was unjustly arrested at a November protest against the grand jury decision in Ferguson.

Lynch-Zorlu is a fixture in local movements around civil rights and equality, and is highly active in the Black Lives Matter movement in the area, as well as other groups such as Springfield No One Leaves and ARISE. She has taken part in many marches and protests in Northampton, Holyoke and surrounding communities in Western Massachusetts.

On one of these marches, on November 30 last year in Holyoke, Lynch-Zorlu was arrested. She and others organized the protest to honor Barbados Independence Day and show solidarity with the family of Mike Brown after the refusal of the Ferguson grand jury to indict Officer Darren Wilson.

The turnout for the protest was much smaller than usual, which Lynch-Zorlu believes made it an easier target to be harassed and dispersed by local police. She and six other people started a march down High Street when four police cruisers inserted themselves in the path of their march.

Knowing they had the right to march unless told they were participating in an illegal assembly and ordered to disperse, the protesters walked around the cruisers and continued down the street.

According to Lynch-Zorlu, this series of events was repeated two more times. After the third time, five officers came running at her, yelling. While trying to make out their statements and get an explanation for their hostility, Lynch-Zorlu was grabbed from behind by one of the officers. She yelled to let people know what was happening, but gave no further resistance. Lynch-Zorlu was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

Police later told a reporter from Mass Live that they stumbled on the march while on their way to investigate an unrelated incident of narcotics being sold on Elm Street--they claimed they were concerned about the safety of protesters marching in the street at night "clad in dark colors." They went on to claim that they arrested Lynch-Zorlu because they thought her "personal safety [was] at peril."

When the two versions of events are stacked side by side, they raise a few important questions about the police response--questions which highlight some of the problems that the Black Lives Matter movement is trying to communicate.

First, assuming they were responding to an actual crime when they "stumbled on" this peaceful march, why did the police stop to harass the protesters? Could one cruiser have stayed while the others investigated the alleged crime they were supposedly investigating? Why was it necessary for four cruisers to respond to a group of seven peaceful marchers? What does this show of force and level of hostility say about the priorities and attitudes of the Holyoke police towards the community they are supposed to be protecting?

WHEN A call was put out for local activists to show up for Vanessa's court date, it was received loud and clear.

About 50 people showed up at the courthouse on the frigid January morning, including local activists, members of the International Socialist Organization, and other student organizations. The mass mobilization of state and local police in the courthouse would have made one think they were expecting an army.

Before going in, Lynch-Zorlu led the group on a march around the block to chant slogans. While marching, we received welcome support from people driving by and walking on the sidewalk, showing their solidarity through raised fists and honking horns. When Vanessa went inside to see what the court would offer her, the group continued to show their support with a rally outside the courthouse.

She emerged a few minutes later and said they wanted her to pay $150 and sweep the whole thing under the rug. Since she had done nothing wrong, she rejected this offer and demanded her right to see a judge.

The group began to file into the courthouse with Vanessa when she reentered the court to see the judge, but before half the group could be checked in, the judge made a hasty decision to reduce the criminal charge to a civil infraction and maintain the fine. Lynch-Zorlu contested this, and a closed hearing was scheduled for March 11.

After leaving the courthouse, Vanessa led us in a four-and-a-half-minute moment of silence for the four-and-a-half hours that Mike Brown's body laid in the streets, and the group dispersed.

She spoke to the group about the decision, the greater movement and its relevance to Holyoke. She highlighted the inequality and backwards priorities of the city by bringing to light the story of a local building which had collapsed--putting many local minority business owners and tenants out of homes, and out of business.

The community had been trying to bring these unsafe conditions to the attention of the city, but the city chose to allocate the funds for the large police presence to crack down on minor crimes and peaceful protests as opposed to the poverty and inequality that is at the root of the problem.

Vanessa's next court date is on March 11. It is a closed hearing, but supporters have been encouraged to gather outside the courthouse in solidarity. Hopefully, the extra time for organization and the nicer spring weather will bring out an even larger turnout. On a related note, January 30 is the next upcoming court date in Springfield for Ayyub Abdul-Alim, who was set up by the FBI for refusing to work for them as an informant within the Muslim community.

It will be important for activists from Western Massachusetts to mobilize for both of these court dates. We need to put an end to police brutality, delegitimize mass incarceration, and stop the New Jim Crow once and for all.